KABUL: Afghanistan has suspended a series of meetings with Pakistan because of what it called the “violent policies” of the Pakistani army and intelligence agencies and their involvement in a string of attacks. Afghanistan and Pakistan are both important US allies but their relations, for decades dogged by a dispute over their border, have more recently been plagued by Afghan accusations of Pakistani involvement in violence in Afghanistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Monday Pakistani agents were behind recent violence, including an attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul last week, the first time he had directly accused Pakistan of involvement in the suicide car bomb blast that killed 58 people. India’s national security adviser, M K Narayanan, said last week he had no doubt Pakistan’s ISI agency was behind the attack.
Ties with Pakistan dominated a cabinet meeting Karzai held on Monday and the cabinet later said in a statement Afghanistan would maintain people-to-people contacts and support the newly elected Pakistani government. “(But) it feels compelled in the face of the violent policies of Pakistani army and intelligence agencies, and for the sake of its national sovereignty, to suspend its bilateral and multilateral meetings,” the cabinet said.
The government said Pakistani agents were behind a string of other attacks, including a bid to kill Karzai in April.
